Everything You Wanted to Know About Spiders!

Transcription

1 Everything You Wanted to Know About Spiders! How do spiders fit into the Animal Kingdom? Spiders are arthropods, a group of invertebrates containing insects, crustaceans, millipedes, centipedes, arachnids and a few others. Spiders are also arachnids, meaning that they share some key features with this group, but differ in a few important ways as well. What makes a spider a spider? Spiders are arachnids with 2 body segments, 8 legs, generally 8 eyes (although some have 6 or even no eyes at all!) pedipalps, chelicerae with venom glands and silk. Pedipalps are the shorter leg-like structures in between the mouth and first set of legs. Chelicerae is the correct name for the spider s fangs. Silk is a strong, sticky substance that spiders produce with their spinnerets. Silk is used in building webs as well as many other aspects of the spider s life. Where are spiders found? Spiders are found everywhere! However, they do not like the extreme cold, so you won t find them in Antarctica. They also do not like to swim very long so you will never find them in the ocean. How do spiders grow? Spiders have external skeletons, called exoskeletons. This is the hard, outer casing that protects spiders as well as other arthropods like insects, crabs, millepedes and centipedes from predation and drying out. Having an exoskeleton imposes some difficulties for growing in spiders as well as other arthropods. In order to grow larger, spiders have to grow a new exoskeleton and shed their old one in a process called molting. Spiders are very vulnerable after molting so they have developed many behavioral traits to protect themselves after shedding their old exoskeleton. What is the importance of silk and what is it used for? Silk is the extension of the spider s sensory system and, for web-builders especially, it allows the spider to feel its prey before necessarily seeing it. Silk is strong and flexible and is one of the strongest natural fibers nature has to offer. Spiders use silk for a variety of reasons, including: web-building, which is perhaps the most obvious reason, wrapping up their precious eggs in an egg sac to protect them before they hatch, lining their burrows (for those that live in them), creating a dragline when they are traveling away from their burrow, and catching prey. Page 1

2 How do spiders hunt? All spiders are predators, meaning that they must eat other animals to survive. Typically we think of spiders as using webs to capture prey. Many spiders do use webs, but they can be very different in their construction and capture method. There are even some spiders that don t use webs at all to capture prey! Web-builders: Many spiders spin orb-webs out of strong, sticky silk. When flying insects get stuck in these webs, the spider can feel its presence through vibrations on the web. It uses these vibrations to locate the insect. When the insect is located, the spider quickly attacks it and wraps it in silk. Triangle-web spider: This spider weaves a small triangle-shaped web that looks like a slice of a regular orb-web. It holds one end of this web very tightly and when a prey item lands in the web, it releases its grip on one corner of the web. This causes the web to snap shut, trapping the prey! Ogre-faced spider: Ogre-faced spiders spin a web small enough to hold between two of their legs. They use this square web like a net to throw over flying insects. Bolas Spider: Bolas spiders do not use a web at all, but rather create a small sticky ball of silk that they dangle from their first leg. This ball of silk has chemicals that mimic the smell of female moths which entices male moths to fly towards the spiders. When the male moth gets too close the spider swings the ball around and captures him in the sticky fluid. Fishing Spiders: Fishing spiders are very large spiders that can float on the surface of water. These spiders do not use webs at all to capture prey. Instead, they sit at the water s edge and feel for vibrations from potential prey items under the water s surface. When they feel an insect or even a small fish, they dive under water and attack it. Trapdoor Spiders: Trapdoor spiders excavate tunnels underground and create a little plug of dirt that caps off the top of the tunnel. When a wandering insect gets close to the entrance of their tunnel, it stumbles over lines of silk that act as trip wires. This allows them to know where the insect is so they can jump out in the correct location at precisely the right moment. Page 2

3 Jumping Spiders: Jumping spiders are fast and stealthy little spiders. They have excellent eyesight and can jump several times their own body-length. They use their cat-like reflexes and exceptional vision to track and kill prey on land. These spiders often prey on other spiders! Crab Spiders: Crab spiders are flower mimics, meaning they look like flower petals! They are often pink, yellow or white and can change colors to match the flowers that they are hunting on! They sit on the flowers and wait for pollinators, such as bees or butterflies, to land on the flower. When the insect gets close, the crab spider grabs the prey with its long front legs and eats it. Do spiders take care of their babies? Can they be social? In short, Yes Many spiders are good mothers. A tiny percentage of the spiders are even social and live together in groups. Egg-sac guarding: All spiders will spin a silk case to protect their eggs from predation and drying out. Most spiders will guard this egg-sac until the babies hatch and will often tolerate the young while they are very small. Sub-social behavior: Some spiders will actively take care of their babies while they are small. This parental care is much more advanced than simple egg-sac guarding. For example, the wolf spider will carry her egg-sac around in her spinnerets until the babies hatch. When the babies hatch they climb onto her back and stay there for a few weeks. The mother will protect them and even share prey with them during this time! A small number of spider mothers will even stay with their offspring until they have almost reached adulthood! Colonial behavior: These spiders make individual webs that are linked together. This is interesting because while most spiders are not tolerant of other adult spiders, colonial spiders are willing to share space with others. Since these spiders each build individual webs, they do not share the prey they catch! Cooperative behavior: Cooperative spiders are the most social spiders. These spiders work together to build a large group web which they will all live in for their Page 3

4 entire lives. When insects land in the web, these spiders will all attack together and even share the prey item once it is captured! Are spiders harmful to humans? Not really- there are a few very venomous spiders, but none of the really bad ones can be found in New York. Spider bites also rarely lead to death. Only a small percentage of reported spider bites actually turn out to be real spider bites! The only spider around here that may actually be venomous is the Yellow Sac Spider. Although the potency of its venom has not been confirmed, this is the only spider you should ever worry about if you find it in your house. Fortunately, they are easy to deal with- simply vacuum them up if you find them in your home! If you encounter one outside, just leave it be! Remember, they will not actively come after you and you will not get bitten if you just leave them alone! How are spiders beneficial to humans? Spiders are excellent predators and feed on many pest insects, including mosquitoes and some crop pests. Keep in mind; since spiders are doing these great things for us we should resist killing them when we see them in our houses and especially when we find them outside! RESOURCES Levi, H. & L. Levi (2001) A Golden Guide to Spiders & Their Kin. This is a great guide for identifying spiders anywhere in the world! It is small, affordable and full of excellent illustrations, making it a nice addition to any classroom book shelf! Beccaloni, J (2009) Arachnids. This book is a fantastic introduction to the general biology and behavior of all arachnids, including spiders. Arachnids is easy to read and provides definitions for most technical spider vocabulary. Although this book is a little long, it is worth having around as a reference and can also be appreciated merely for the many, many beautiful photographs on nearly every page. Schultz, S (1998) The Tarantula Keeper s Guide. Page 4

5 This is best book available for tarantula care. It explains everything from basic care to how to capture your own tarantulas in the wild! Parts of this book can be quite advanced, but the information regarding proper habitat construction and conditions is simply the best around! These are our Naturalist Outreach and Spider Outreach Websites: Page 5

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